"58"COL Baseball Champs

Halcyon days

Unsung Tigers’ baseball title

September 29, 2014

After Marietta High blanked Zanesville 3-0 at Bergin Field in Duncan Falls to claim the Central Ohio League baseball championship in the spring of 1958, there was a modest celebration before returning to Washington County.

The parents of right-fielder Frank Christie treated the winners to a wiener roast in a park near the ball diamond, according to a game story written by Bill Robinson, the late Marietta Times sports editor/writer.

No trophy or plaque was presented to the champs.

Article Photos

RON JOHNSTON The Marietta TimesMarietta High’s 1958 Central Ohio League baseball (COL) championship team had a reunion at Da Vinci’s restaurant in Williamstown Sunday. Some of the team members presented MHS athletic director Rick Guimond with a trophy which is expected to be showcased at the high school. Pictured sitting, left to right, are Guimond, Bob Thomas, Neil Gregory, and Joan Christie Gerhart (representing Frank Christie). Standing, left to right, are Ed Sidinger, Brad Morris, Earl Kehl, Lorn Dimit, Jerry Ullman, and Larry Hutchinson.

Fast-forward 56 years later to Sunday at Da Vinci's restaurant in Williamstown. Many of the players on that title team, family members, and friends were gathered in a reunion to reminisce, to celebrate those halcyon days.

Not all the players were present as MHS head coach Jim Jordan, second baseman Dick Spindler, and Christie are deceased. Gone - but never forgotten.

Also at the banquet were MHS head baseball coach Jim Thrash and athletic director Rick Guimond, who was presented with the 1958 trophy to be showcased at the high school.

The 1958 Marietta High baseball team featured five seniors, four of whom started on a regular basis. They were pitcher/first baseman Jerry Ullman, catcher Ed Sidinger, third baseman Lorn Dimit, and first baseman Earl Kehl.

Chris Mattocks played in a reserve role on the orange and black roster.

In the league title tilt against the "tough-in-any-sport" Blue Devils, as Robinson would write, the right-handed throwing Ullman went the seven-inning distance on the hill for the Tigers. With virtually pin-point control, he fanned two, walked one, and scattered four hits, two to ZHS shortstop Dick Wright.

Twice, during the contest, Ullman had to work out of a jam after giving up triples to Zanesville first baseman Charlie Jones in the second inning and Wright in the third.

He also gave up a broken bat hit to Blue Devil right fielder Jim Steele in the sixth frame.

Ullman, who retired in 2003 after 39 years as a machine operator at BF Goodrich, finished his prep baseball career with a 6-1 senior record, including back-to-back shutouts. Previous to the ZHS showdown, he'd blanked Chillicothe by an identical 3-0 score.

Offensively, against the Blue Devils, left-fielder and hot-hitting Larry Hutchinson staked Marietta to a 2-0 first-inning advantage when he doubled home center-fielder Bob Babcock and Christie. The day before in a 4-0 win against Parkersburg Catholic, Hutchinson had a couple of clutch basehits.

MHS added what turned out to be another insurance run in the fifth when Ullman, helping his own cause, plated Babcock.